Have we really migrated from indifference and apathy in the face of oppression of the other?

On 31st July, 2005, the Terengganu state government ripped into the heart of the Sky Kingdom community in Besut, tore down ornamental structures built as a labour of love by some of the gentlest people I have ever met, and flattened the village, sparing only dilapidated wooden houses and the gravesite of Mad Ya who, since 2000, had his statutory declaration that he renounced Islam rejected by officialdom and who yet, upon his death in 2003, was refused a burial plot at the Muslim cemetary by that same officialdom on the grounds that he was an apostate.

The giant umbrella that stood until 31/7/2005

The teapot that was no more after 31/7/2005

The maze of walkways that was reduced to rubble on 31/7/2005

The day after. A job well done

All gone

Pleasing in the sight of the God of the Terengganu state authorities

Claudia Theophilus, in a report dated 31st July, 2005 in Malaysiakini quoted one of the villagers as follows :

“Can you hear the loud noises? The buildings are crumbling as we speak. They are now breaking down the main hall – it’s the last of all,” said one of the followers when contacted at the village about 2.30pm today.

“The whole place has been destroyed. There is nothing left, not even as a remembrance.”

Five days later, in another report in Malaysiakini, Claudia reported as follows :

‘The terraced landscape in the center of the village has been practically flattened after the four-day demolition exercise and now lies in pitch darkness.

The circular tracks of tractor and truck tyres are nothing more than muddy puddles now. Pieces of the bright-yellow roof over the umbrella tower replica were strewn everywhere.

Blocks of roman pillars and ballustrades were scattered at the edges of where the Sky Kingdom centerpiece once stood, framed by the followers’ houses.

Steel and iron rods were jutting from the ground. A crumpled footrug lay muddied at the site of the main hall.

The mighty structures are only marked by the bits and pieces of building material used in their construction.

The circular dais where Ayah Pin used to sit during regular weekend gatherings and main events looked almost intact, covered by dust, debris and broken marble.

The authorities – the Besut district council, Public Works Department and the Besut land office – reportedly remarked how sturdy and solid the concrete-and-marble structures had been based on the difficulty of tearing them down.

The fenced-up grave of Mohamad Ya, or Ustaz Ya, at one corner of the commune is the only ‘built-up space’ left untouched’

I had heard that on the morning of the demolition, those involved had held a solat hajat, to ask  God to fill them with strength and fortitude enough to do that which they were soon to do. And that soon after the demolition was completed, at a majlis kesyukuran, there was much rejoicing in that God would indeed be pleased with those who had partaken in this jihad.

Stripped of all fanciful arguments, the destruction of the Sky Kingdom was nothing short of genocide.

An attempt to obliterate a chosen way of life simply because it did not sit with the views of those in authority and who, they would have us believe, represent the majority.

The villagers , who had turned to SUHAKAM for help both before and after the demolition, found little comfort there.

News of the annihilation of this village was carried by all the main stream media.

Through all this, civil society remained silent and looked the other way.

Why?

Each of you must answer this question for yourself.

What I do know is that whilst we can never give back to the Sky Kingdom villagers what was taken away from them, we can resolve never to let this ever happen again.

We can resolve that we will not allow the current Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state government to do to the Ahmaddiyah community in Selayang what the UMNO led Terengganu state government did to the Sky Kingdom villagers in 2005.

Malaysiakini reports today that this community has come under renewed attacks from the authorities, especially the Selangor religious department, and quotes the Selangor Islamic Affairs, Malay Customs, Infrastructure and Basic Amenities Committee chairperson Dr Hasan Ali as having vowed to “bury” this community.

I reproduce below the report in full for those who are not subscribed to Malaysiakini.

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While Malaysian Muslims this week ushered in their new year, members of a small Islamic sect huddled in a mosque in Selayang, Selangor, pondering about their future.

MCPX

Their faith has come under renewed attacks from the authorities, especially from the Selangor religious department.

Only recently, the Selangor Islamic Affairs, Malay Customs, Infrastructure and Basic Amenities Committee chairperson Dr Hasan Ali had vowed to “bury” the movement.

They have been issued warnings not to put up Quranic verses and holy logos in their mosque. In addition, their main mosque and the land it is sitting on in Kampung Nakhoda, Selayang, are facing imminent seizure from the state religious authorities.

So who are these people? And why are they such a threat?

The group has been labeled by the state religious authorities as Qadiani and accused of practising deviationist teachings.

But sect members call themselves Jemaat Ahmadiyah Muslim Malaysia, a branch of an international Ahmadiyah movement.

“We are definitely not involved in deviationist teachings. We are all Muslims, just like the others, including Dr Hasan and his PAS people,” said Ahmadiyah Malaysia’s leader Ungku Adnan Ismael.

“There are many lies being propagated against us by the religious authorities,” he told Malaysiakini recently during a meeting which also included some of his sect members.

While most of them had a lot to say about how they were being treated by the state religious authorities, they nevertheless agreed to channel their views through their spokesperson Ainul Yakin Mohd Zain, a born Ahmadiyah follower.

The lies and the truth

In recent weeks, Hasan, also the Selangor PAS chief, was reported in the media as saying that this sect believed its members were prophets and descendants of slaves; that the haj can be performed in India; and were using modified verses in the Quran.

“None of this is true. We perform our haj in Mecca, just like all other Muslims. We use the holy Quran, without any modification. We pray five times a day, using the same verses used by other Muslims,” said Ainul.

Their only difference is – and it IS a major one – that they believe that there is another prophet after Muhammad. And for them, this new messiah is their founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani.

For the mainstream Islamic believers in Malaysia, this is a strong deviation from the true teachings of Islam as for them there is only one prophet and that is Muhammad.

Any other Islamic teaching which propagates the existence of a new prophet is automatically deemed deviant, and this included the Ahmadiyah movement.

The Ahmadiyah movement was founded by Mirza Gulam in India in 1889.

Qadiani is the village Mirza Gulam was born in 1839. He had declared himself as the promised messiah in 1891 and as the new prophet in 1901. Mirza Gulam died in 1908.

The movement is now headed by the fifth successor, Hadrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, who is overseeing the international Ahmadiyah movement from his base in London, United Kingdom.

The Ahmadiyah teaching in Malaysia is not a new phenomenon.

It found its way to this shores in the 1930s. Their first base was in Jeram, Selangor, although in the years that followed Kampung Nakhoda had taken over as the unofficial headquarters for the movement.

At its height, the movement had about 10,000 members. Today, they stand at about 1,000 to 1,500, of which 500 are from Selangor.

“We have a strong following in Selangor, followed by Sabah and some in Johor,” said Ainul.

‘We are liberal Muslims’

The Ahmadiyah teaching was strenuously rejected by the local religious authorities from early on. A fatwa was declared against the movement in 1975.

Ainul said that the fatwa meant that the Ahmadiyah followers were not considered Muslims and their place of worship could not be called mosques.

“This is why we have not been charged in any syariah courts because we are not considered Muslims.

“Our mosque is only referred as a building for our gathering and not as a mosque as we are not allowed to call it a mosque due to our status,” he added.

These however, he added, had never stopped them from being true Muslims.

“Come to our mosque and you will see us praying like all the others. Nothing is different.

“Of course, we are more open minded than most of them. We believe that if you want to convert out, you may do so…

“That is something which you will have to deal with your maker… not us,” he added.

Likewise, he said, members of the Ahmadiyah were open to hold discussions on religion and interfaith dialogues, something which has been avoided by the mainstream Islamic groups.

He claimed that PAS leader Hasan was only trying to “make himself a hero by pushing for actions against us”.

“His is a political move – a move to portray himself and his party as true Muslims and all others as non-believers,” added Ungku Adnan.

“Orthodox Muslims, like PAS, would not like us. The enlightened one, however, may agree with us,” he added.

Running out of time

Ainul said that the next step for the Ahmadiyah movement was to explain its teachings to the people and the authorities.

“Even when the fatwa was issued, we were not called in to explain our teachings. And now Hasan, PAS and the Selangor religious authorities are working to clamp down on us.

“Why don’t they invite us for a dialogue? Or better still, if they think we are deviating from the true teaching, why not try to reform us?” asked Ainul.

“What we don’t want is to become a victim of a political game. We want to be left alone to practice our belief as Muslims. And they must realise that we are no different from them,” he added.

But before any of these can be done, the Ahmadiyah movement must first stem the state machinery which has been given the green light to forcibly remove Quranic verses and Islam logos from their ‘building’ (read: mosque) beginning tomorrow.

Plans are also afoot to use the National Land Code to examine the legality of the movement’s purchase of land several years ago, on which the mosque stands.

Ungku Adnan and his followers are worried that if the move against them is successful, they will not be around to celebrate Awal Muharram next year as Ahmadiyah followers.

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I have gotten to know some of the Ahmaddiyah, including Ainul Yakin, just as I have come to know the Sky Kingdom villagers.

To the best of my knowledge, they are not militant in any way nor do they subscribe to any tenets that might be objectively perceived to be immoral by any standards.

In fact, based on their stance on notions of equality and brotherhood, I would venture to say that they could teach Dr Hasan Ali a thing or two about what is truly Islam based on the Holy Qur’an.

And, yes, there are differences in their understanding of Islam with that of my own.

Just as there are significant differences between my understanding of Islam with that of the mainstream ahlul sunnah wal jamaah in this country.

These are differences permitted by God in the Holy Qur’an and protected by the Constitution which is the supreme law of this land.

And it is these differences of opinion and understanding that serve as the test of our willingness to, firstly, peacably coexist with one who’s view starkly differs with one’s own and, more importantly, to rise in defence of the right of  minorities such as the Ahmaddiyah and Sky Kingdom to live with their beliefs in peace.

The Pakatan Rakyat state governments, Kelantan aside, are a reality today because the people voted for change on 8th March.

Are we to take the menacing stance taken by Dr Hasan Ali towards the Ahmaddiyah community as representative of all of the Selangor state exco?

Is Dr Hasan’s stance representative of the people of Selangor?

And you, yes you who are reading this now, will you look the other way again?

On 12th November December, this year, about 40 anak Bangsa Malaysia made their way to Rasa in Hulu Selangor to defend the right of Hindu brothers and sisters to perform prayer rituals from possible interference by the police.

To those 40, I now ask, what of the threat to our Ahmaddiyah brothers and sisters?